Avalanche defenseman Nick Holden (2) skates to the puck as Philadelphia Flyers defenseman Nicklas Grossmann (8) defends on the play during the first period January 2, 2014at Pepsi Center. (Photo by John Leyba/The Denver Post)

Where did this guy Nick Holden come from, right? He was scratched more than a old soft couch leg in a room full of long-clawed cats, in the first half of the season. That second half? Most excellent.

He scored 10 goals and 25 points in 54 games, with a plus-12. Then he scored three more goals in the playoffs, a plus-2 and a 25-percent conversion rate on his shots on goal. Quite simply, he was the find of the year for Patrick Roy.
He scored a lot of his goals by jumping up and being basically a power forward on the power play, putting home several shots from the left crease.

He displayed a pretty good slap shot too, and his passing wasn’t bad either. He has something of an agitating presence to him on the ice too, though he probably could stand to use his big body a little more muscling opponents out of the way — thought he was credited with 118 hits in 54 games He’s a bit of a card off the ice. His locker is right next to Gabe Landeskog’s, and he likes to give Landy a hard time when he’s doing interviews, either photo-bombing or interrupting interviews or acting like a media person himself. It drives Landy a little bit nuts too. We’ll see where the locker stalls are next season.

I thought Holden was quite the revelation for this team, and it will be interesting to see where he plays this year. Could he supplant Jan Hejda as a top-two guy, with Erik Johnson? Seems possible.

If he can just get a little bit better on things like taking care of the puck (he had 22 giveaways, a bit much for 54 games. Not horrible, but…) and just use his size even better in his own end, the Avs will continue to have a nice, big D-man who is only 27.